In Retrospect: Was Borntakers' "Skrrt" noteworthy?

[FreedMind]

Featured on Derek Schklar's Harbinger project, which he released under the pseudonym "The Devil", the Borntakers track "Skrrt" was an immediate standout when I first came across the mixtape years ago.

On a mixtape that features music from Atlanta artists such as Future, Alley Boy, Low Down Dirty (or Big Bank) Black, the Borntakers' pubescent voices stand as a stark contrast to the cold gravitas of the aforementioned veteran artists. Whereas most of the artists contributed fairly solemn tracks to Harbinger, "Skrrt" is a hyperviolent ode to themes that are all too familiar to listeners of trap music: hitting licks, promiscuous women, gun violence, and foreign cars.

Make no mistake about it: "Skrrt" is as catchy as it is disorienting. It's obvious that this track was never mixed properly, adding to the frenetic intensity through which the young rappers deliver their lyrical vexes. The onomatopoeic "skrrt" is uttered more times than I care to count, never failing to pierce surrounding soundscapes over the song's 4:10 runtime. Ordinarily, this song and its content wouldn't raise many eyebrows because, after all, the themes are commonplace and have otherwise been normalized specifically in trap music. Yet the song is framed in a way that begs the audience to question what they're choosing to consume and enjoy.





It's true, Derek Schklar has worked closely with recognizable Atlanta artists in the past, and his listed credits range from artist management, to director, and even executive producer. However, Harbinger is by no means a showcase for its musicians. For example, songs are often and suddenly interrupted by a dizzying array of skits, interviews, gunshots and even death metal. For his effort, the mixtape currently holds a rating of -15 on livemixtapes, demonstrating just how grating the average listener found this experience to be; I can only imagine how disturbing it would be to expect to listen to Future, only to hear a brooding diatribe as a sort of interlude before any kind of beat drops.

Instead, Harbinger is a hybrid project consisting of visual art (by way of a video uploaded to YouTube) and music (the mixtape.) Without the video, the mixtape turns out to be quite an enigma that almost assuredly turned off most of its listeners completely from engaging with its message or meaning.

So what exactly is being expressed by this project?

Harbinger is an exploration of trap music and what it ultimately reveals about the community that almost singlehandedly birthed one of Hip Hop's most popular subgenres. Underneath its spotlight, it questions what we've normalized and deemed as acceptable for our music, communities, and personal lives.

With that being said, Harbinger doesn't pass judgement so much as it's trying to make sense of the lunacy that plagues our every day. When we hear Borntakers' "Skrrt," we're supposed to confront the realities of youth violence not as a catchy song that can generate money, but for its actual consequences on our children and communities. When we hear Freeway Rick Ross (former drug trafficker not rapper) share his sorrowful observations, we're meant to question the glorification of drug dealers and kingpins, and the exploitation of drug users and their sickness.

Harbinger was not a perfect release. The mixtape and video never became the synchronized tandem that it should've been; and for all of its original music and videos, the final product could've used slightly better editing. Nevertheless, was the message valid? Was any of it noteworthy?